Libellés

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Old cars pollute too much

Look at this car. Beautiful isn't? It's an old Citroën Traction Avant, a very famous French car that was built between 1934 à 1957. There are still a few ones running in France (and everywhere apparently!) including Paris. But pretty soon, they might disappear from our scenery, as the French Ecology Minister is planning to ban all cars that were manufactured before 1997 from getting into Paris and 7 other big cities in France. The goal being to drop the level of pollution. Probably a good idea, but I will regret these old cars.

My brother tells me he thinks these were used as taxicabs for many years. I could only describe the car to him, not show it. Is it true - were these the antique cabs of yore?! (Love the picture, Eric!)

I love those traction carsof course some taxi drivers used them, in France you can drive any car of your choice as a taxi.Some models of the traction avant had a lot of space inside, especially the "15 familiale"I remember as a child being in a traction taxi which had some extra seats you could unfold, where you sat facing other passengers. We kids would fight to get these special seats

apart from all these nice memories, breathing a cleaner air in Paris would do us good ;)))))tmost old cars are just old and not at all that good loooking!

Ah yes, elle est belle ! I saw an old Citroen yesterday that looked like it had been made out of a can of spam, if you know what that is! No way that would be allowed in if this law gets passed. Nice picture Eric.

It's not that simple, and I think it is certainly NOT a good idea!These old "collection" cars are not on the roads for hours and miles, so they are really not the polluters...Why should I leave my traction avant in the garage while my neighbour can still drive his big diesel SUV all day long???;o)

I'm with Thib, banning these would be a travesty!! These kinds of cars don't get driven daily for the long road trips, but rather short, beautiful trips. :) I would love to have a ride in one of these...just gorgeous!

Thib! You have a traction in your garage!! I don't know whether to ;) or not - I hope you do - they are so cool.

Lili - thanks for the info - I didn't know you could use any car you liked as a taxi. I'm going to google the familiale and see what it looks like since the ones I saw did look like Fred and Ginger could fit nicely inside but not even one extra tiny poodle with them!

I have to agree, I don't think banning old cars is going have one iota of impact on pollution. There is already many old cars that have been taken off the road, and they become fewer every year. How many cars from the 50's do you really see on the road anyway? It is another bureaucrat without much to do who can now claim he has accomplished something. And of course a ban would fall harder on the poor and moderate income, as usual.

I think it's pretty sad. It's not like there are thousands of these cars being used in the commute. :( Besides, the Traction Avant is one of the most elegant French car of the 20th Century, if not THE most elegant.